APUSH CH 23+24 Lecture Name: Hour: Chapter 23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age, 1869-1896 I. Grant Becomes President A. The Election of 1868 1. Republicans: Ulysses S. Grant (Republican Party replaced the Union Party of the Civil War era) 2. Democrats: Horatio Seymour (former NY governor) 3. Grants wins: 214 electoral votes to 80 (popular vote was a bit closer) a. Elected under the notion of waving the bloody shirt i. Meant looking back on Grant s role in the Civil War war hero to remind people why they should vote for him B. Grant s First Administration 1. His administration pardoned many former Confederate leaders 2. Worked to limit the number of troops in the South during military Reconstruction 3. Worked to protect blacks from the KKK 4. Congress passed the 15 th Amendment in 1869 to secure voting rights of blacks (it was ratified in 1870) 5. Political corruption was a major issue during the Grant Administration a. Grant had many corrupt members in his Cabinet/government although he remained clean b. The Tweed Ring in NY was the epitome of corruption c. The use of the spoils system greatly contributed to the power that politicians had at this time d. Grant favored civil service reform but Congress would not hear of it 6. Scandal a. 1869. Jay Gould, James Fisk, and other financial speculators tried to corner (or gain control of) the gold market by buying all the gold available in New York City i. They planned to force bankers and businessmen to buy gold from them at highly inflated prices ii. In the end, Grant authorized the federal government to sell some of its gold to end the financial panic II. Grant s Second Term A. Election of 1872 1. By 1872, the Republicans became divided over the corruption of the Grant Administration 2. Those who wanted reform formed the Liberal Republican Party a. They nominated Horace Greeley (a newspaper man) as their candidate i. Interestingly enough, the Democrats also nominated Greeley ii. There was a lot of corruption within the Democratic Party at this time (more on that later) b. Republicans nominated Grant (their slogan: Grant us another Term ) i. Grant won the election 286 to 66 (Greeley actually dies a few days before the electoral votes were counted) 3. After the election the Republicans sought to fix the problems that they had been criticized for 1
B. Credit Mobilier Scandal (1872) 1. Members of the Union Pacific Railroad created the Credit Mobilier construction company to inflate the prices to build the railroad line a. Many congressmen men were investigated and had taken bribes from the Union Pacific C. Panic of 1873: some eastern banks failed and this hurt the banking, manufacturing, and farming sectors 1. Speculators and investors had invested more money and built more factories than the economy/market could bear 2. Loans could not be paid back; businesses went bankrupt and people lost their jobs 3. Debtors wanted relief and asked for policies that promoted inflation a. Some favored the reissuing of greenbacks (the currency issued during the Civil War) i. This would have been cheap money that could have been used to repay their loans (NOT backed by gold) ii. Creditors wanted hard money backed by gold 4. Grant was persuaded to veto a bill to print more money 5. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was the last reform enacted by Congress with regard to Reconstruction a. It guaranteed equal accommodations in public places (hotels, railroads, theaters) and prohibited courts from excluding blacks from serving on juries b. It was poorly enforced 6. In 1875 the Resumption Act of 1875 passed a. This resulted in the withdraw of greenbacks from circulation b. All paper currency would be redeemed for gold beginning in 1879 7. Debtors then looked at silver as an option a. Many sought the coinage of silver b. Grant did not give in to this in 1879 the Redemption Act took hold as greenbacks were pulled out of circulation and exchanged for gold 8. This crisis led many farmers to join the Greenback Party D. Whiskey Ring Scandal (1875) 1. Involved whiskey distillers and government officials who stole did not pay excise taxes to the government a. The ring was exposed by the Secretary of the Treasury in 1875 E. Nearing the End of Reconstruction 1. Southern conservatives, called redeemers, took control of many state governments a. They believed in states rights, reduced taxes, reduced spending on social programs, and white supremacy (and wanted to oust the carpetbaggers and scalawags from the government) III. The Gilded Age The Era of Good Stealings A. The Gilded Age 1. A term coined by Mark Twain to characterize the period between 1870-1890 a. The name of this era suggests that a thin but glittering layer of wealth and prosperity concealed the corruption of society and the growing gap between the rich and the poor 2
b. A time when Democrats and Republicans saw eye-to-eye on issues such as tariffs and civil service reforms c. Overall, the parties were very competitive and the races for the presidency were very close (also a time of high electoral turnouts) 2. Also a time of railroad barons, growing industrialization and urbanization, as well as the growth of labor/labor unions B. Corruption: Boss Tweed 1. William M. Tweed was one of the earliest and most powerful bosses a. He became the head of Tammany Hall New York City s most powerful Democratic political machine in 1868 2. Between 1869 and 1871 the Tweed Ring, a group of corrupt politicians led by Boss Tweed, made about $200 million from kickbacks and payoffs a. The Tweed Ring was finally broken up in 1871 b. This was partly due to Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist C. Patronage 1. Defined as giving political positions in exchange for votes a. This was one of the biggest problems during the Gilded Age 2. Patronage is also linked to the spoils system, which meant that people were given government jobs based on who they knew, not on their skills or abilities 3. Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling (NY) became powerful leader of his party and determined who would get lucrative government jobs a. Conkling and his supporters were known as the Stalwarts b. Their rivals, the Half Breeds, were led by James G. Blaine 4. Those who refused to play the patronage game were called Mugwumps for sitting on the fence IV. The Controversial Election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877 A. The Candidates 1. Republicans: Rutherford B. Hayes (Governor of OH) a. They needs someone not linked to the corruption of the Grant Administration i. He was seen as the compromise candidate as neither faction of the Republican Party had enough power to nominate a candidate 2. Democrats: Samuel J. Tilden (Governor of NY) B. The Electoral Dispute 1. 4 states were in dispute, 3 of which were in the South they had sent their voting returns in and each had a set for Hayes and for Tilden here was the problem 2. The election would then be decided by the Senate and the House but the outcome depended on which party did the counting in each house of Congress C. The Compromise of 1877 1. The Democrats would allow Hayes to take office, but he had to withdraw all federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina 2. The Republicans also had to promise that they would reward the Democrats with positions in the government 3
3. The Democrats claimed they would recognize the civil rights of blacks 4. Finally, the Republicans had to abandon their commitment to racial equality in the South V. Hayes s Administration (1877-1881) A. Hayes as President 1. Withdrew the remaining troops from the South a. Whites quickly regained control of Southern governments 2. Hayes pushed for civil service reform but it did not happen 3. Financial issues were also important a. Farmers wanted cheap money and more money to be put into circulation (this would cause inflation and raise the price of crops) 4. In 1878, Hayes vetoed the Bland-Allison Act, which required the Treasury to buy and coin between $2 million and $4 million worth of silver a month a. Congress passed the bill over his veto 5. In 1879, the Hayes Administration resumed payment of specie (metal coin) for greenbacks (paper money issued to finance the Civil War) a. Secretary of the Treasury Sherman had enough gold in the Treasury to redeem all of the greenbacks that were likely to be brought in b. This policy helped restore financial confidence, and business improved 6. Hayes vowed not to run for a second term and he didn t VI. Jim Crow Laws A. Jim Crow Laws 1. What we already know: African Americans/former slaves lost voting rights due to the institution of poll taxes and literacy tests 2. Southern state and local governments passed laws to separate white and blacks in public and private facilities these laws became known as Jim Crow laws B. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) 1. Plessy v. Ferguson tested the constitutionality of segregation a. Homer Plessy, an African American man, had been denied a seat in a railroad car reserved for whites b. He argued his right to equal protection of the laws was violated by this 2. The ruling: The Supreme Court held that segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities provided for blacks were equal to those provided to whites a. Thus, the separate but equal doctrine was established VII. Civil Service Reform: Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur A. Hayes 1. He refused to use the patronage system 2. Became unpopular with his party and did not run for reelection B. James A. Garfield (1881) 1. Elected in 1880 (214 to 155) 2. Elected by the Half Breed faction of his party 4
a. Handed out political jobs to his supporters 3. He was shot in a train station, in July 1881 by Charles Guiteau (died 80 days later) a. The assassin was a man that Garfield had refused to give a political appointment C. Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) 1. Vice President Arthur took over for Garfield upon his death a. While Garfield was shot, but still alive, Arthur did not take over the duties of the presidency b. He became a reformer (he was a Stalwart) c. Did not stick with the old ways and the patronage system 2. His first message to Congress stressed the need for a civil service law a. The result: Pendleton Civil Service Act this created a Civil Service Commission to make appointments to federal jobs through the merit system (meaning qualified individuals received government positions) 3. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 banned all Chinese immigration for 10 years the first law limiting immigration a. A response to the cheap labor that the Chinese provided to work on the transcontinental railroad (hated by the Irish who also worked low-wage jobs) 4. Not renominated by his party in 1884 (due to illness and political issues) VIII. Grover Cleveland Becomes President (1885-1889) A. A Democrat in the White House 1. Cleveland was the first Democrat to take office since Buchanan (the election was very close) a. He defeated Republican James Blaine (who was implicated in political scandal) b. The Mugwumps of the Republican Party voted for Cleveland and this helped to get him elected 2. The spoils system still existed despite civil service reform 3. Famers associations had formed, such as the Farmers Alliance and the Grange 4. The most important issue was tariffs a. Industrialists wanted a high tariff to protect high prices and a sound money system, based on gold b. Farmers wanted a low tariff so they would not have to pay high prices for imported manufactured goods i. They wanted money to be cheap and favored inflation c. Cleveland pressed Congress to reduce tariffs but it did not happen 5. Currency was based on gold (greenbacks were removed from circulation) a. The Bland-Allison Act authorized the Treasury to buy at least $2 million in silver each month b. The coins were minted on a standard that made 16 ounces of silver equal in value to 1 ounce of gold c. Farmers and others would push for the unlimited coinage of silver to expand the money supply 6. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was passed and allowed the federal government to regulate interstate railroads (very important act) 5
7. When Cleveland ran for reelection in 1888, he was defeated by Benjamin Harrison (grandson of William Henry Harrison, Old Tippecanoe, 233 to 168) a. Issues such as tariffs and the spoils system were key in this election 8. Cleveland would be elected again in 1892 IX. Harrison s Administration (1889-1893) A. Harrison as President (Republican) 1. Extended the civil service law to include more jobs 2. In 1890, Congress approved the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which outlawed trusts or monopolies that restricted trade 3. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act increased the amount of silver that could be coined a. This pleased farmers who wanted more money in circulation 4. The McKinley Tariff (1890) was instituted to protect U.S. industries and tariffs were set at a record high a. Farmers saw this benefiting big business more than themselves 5. Tried to rush a treaty to add Hawaii as a territory to the U.S. through the Senate (Cleveland later withdrew the treaty) 6. Ran for reelection in 1892 but was defeated by Cleveland a. Many discontented farmers and workers abandoned the Republican Party and joined the new Populist Party X. A New Party for the People A. The Peoples Party or the Populists 1. This party formed in 1892 due to the problems farmers were facing such as falling farm prices, increasing debt and higher costs 2. They favored: a. More money in circulation to create inflation (which would increase farm prices) b. Unlimited coinage of silver (free silver) c. Regulation of the railroads d. A shorter work day e. Initiative and referendum f. Immigration restrictions g. Graduated income tax h. Direct election of U.S. Senators 3. In the 1892 election the Populist candidate, James Weaver, actually received some electoral votes impressive for a third party 4. Later we will see many of the Populist ideas adopted by the Progressives XI. Cleveland Is Back (1893-1897) A. Cleveland is Reelected (1892) 1. Republicans: Harrison 2. Democrats: Cleveland a. Cleveland wins due to issues/divisions within the other parties; the only president to be reelected after a presidential election loss 6
B. Round 2 for Cleveland 1. Faced economic depression in 1893 worst of the 1800s a. Responded with laissez faire policies which did not help 2. A decline in silver prices encouraged investors to trade their silver dollars for gold dollars a. Gold reserved became drained led to the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act i. This required the U.S. to purchase silver and issue paper currency for the silver it bought ii. William Jennings Bryan fought against this more on him later b. Gold reserves continued to decrease to the point where the government took a loan from J.P. Morgan in the amount of $65 million in gold 3. Labor unrest continued a. Jacob Coxey (Coxey s Army) led a group of supporters to Washington in 1894 and pushed for relief for the unemployed i. They demanded that the government spend $500 million on public works projects Chapter 24: Industry Comes of Age, 1865-1900 I. The Railroad A. The Transcontinental Railroad 1. Congress aided in the completion of the transcontinental railroad by helping to finance some of the railroad companies through low interest loans (Union Pacific and Central Pacific) 2. The railroad system was finally connected in Utah in 1869 B. The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad 1. Rapid industrialization 2. Increase in trade 3. Led to growth in the West 4. An increase in immigration (hoped to get land in the West) 5. The creation of time zones to keep trains running on time C. Railroad Improvements 1. Steel: improved the strength of the tracks and could carry heavier loads 2. Air brakes also improved the stopping capabilities of trains 3. Pullman Palace Cars luxurious cars for travel D. Railroad Corruption 1. Stock watering inflated stock prices before selling stock to the public 2. Bribed judges and legislators 3. Gave rebates for using certain rail lines 4. Pools formed (dividing business of an area and splitting the profits) 5. Wabash v. Illinois: Supreme Court ruled that states could not regulate interstate commerce (commerce between states) a. Objective was to nullify states laws regarding railroads so that the federal government has the power to regulate them 6. Interstate Commerce Act, 1887: passed to regulate railroads a. No rebates/polls b. No unfair shipping rates/price discrimination 7
E. Cornelius Vanderbilt 1. First made his money in the steam boating industry and then the railroads 2. Bought various rail lines and connected them 3. Helped popularize steel rails by having the iron tracks of the NY Central replaced with steel II. Big Business A. Andrew Carnegie 1. Captain of the steel industry a. Established the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892 b. An example of vertical integration: combining all phases of manufacturing into one organization: from mining the resource to transporting the manufactured good 2. Opened his first steel mill in 1873 in Pittsburgh (used the Bessemer process) 3. Business philosophy: the gospel of wealth a. Some people were destined to become rich and use their money to help society b. Goes along with the idea of Social Darwinism B. John D. Rockefeller 1. Organized Standard Oil Company in 1870 2. Continued to buy out larger refineries until he controlled 90% of the market in 1879 a. An example of horizontal integration C. J.P. Morgan 1. Financed reorganization of the railroads in 1893 after a financial panic 2. Bought Carnegie steel for $400 million in 1900 a. Launched a larger U.S. Steel Corporation in 1901 3. Also played a key role in financing other companies such as, American Telephone and Telegraph and General Electric D. Economics in the Gilded Age 1. Little government regulation of big business occurred (laissez faire) 2. The idea of Social Darwinism was common applied Charles Darwin s theory of natural selection to business and economics 3. Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 a. Prohibited companies that restrained trade (mainly trusts) b. The case The United States v. E.C. Knight Company (1893) ruled that the this act could only be applied to commerce, not manufacturing c. Act was ineffective and was not enforced (it had no teeth ) III. Impact of Industrialization A. Effects of Industrialization 1. Increase in standard of living (people became wage earners) 2. Increase in size of cities due to demand for workers 3. Decline in agriculture 4. Rise in manufacturing/trade 5. Women joined the work force in huge numbers a. The Gibson Girl became popular i. She was not only beautiful, feminine, could attend college, but she was independent 6. By the 1890s the richest 10% of the U.S. population controlled 90% of the nation s wealth a. Many Americans ignored the widening gap between the rich and the poor 8
b. They looked to examples of Horatio Alger rags to riches stories about self-made men who were of modest means and then became successful B. New Inventions 1. Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell, 1876 a. Women worked as switchboard operators 2. Typewriter (1876); cash register (1879); calculating machine (1887); George Eastman s Kodak camera (1888); King Gillette s safety razor (1895) 3. Edison: invented phonograph, moving picture, light bulb, etc. 4. George Westinghouse invented an air brake for railroads (1869) and a transformer for producing high-voltage alternating current (1885) IV. Labor in the Late 1800s A. Labor Conditions 1. By 1900, 2/3 of all working Americans worked for wages at jobs that required them to work 10 hours a day, 6 days per week 2. One of the largest employers was the steel mills, which often demanded that employees work a 7-day week a. Employees did not receive vacations, sick leave, unemployment compensation, or workers compensation for injuries that occurred on the job 3. Wages were generally low for factory jobs as there were many immigrants competing for jobs 4. 1 out of every 5 adult women were in the labor force in 1900 a. Most were young and single; only 5% of married women worked outside of the home B. Labor Unions 1. Workers formed labor unions in an effort to obtain fair wages and better working conditions 2. National Labor Union: 1866 (lasted 6 years) a. 640,000 members at its peak b. Skilled and unskilled workers c. Women and blacks were not generally members d. Fought for 8 hour way day and arbitration of labor disputes 3. The Knights of Labor: created in 1869 by Uriah Stephens; famously led by Terence V. Powderly in the 1880s a. Open to all workers, regardless of race, gender, or skill level b. It advocated an 8-hour workday and equal pay for equal work c. It saw labor strikes as a last resort to arbitration or negotiations d. Reached the height of its power under Terence Powderly e. By 1866 it had 700,000 members; declined after the Haymarket riot 4. The AF of L: created in 1886 a. Founder: Samuel Gompers b. Did not support the organization of unskilled workers c. Wanted to organize skilled workers in a network of smaller craft unions d. Favored collective bargaining, a process in which workers negotiate as a group with their employer e. By 1901 it had 1 million members 9
C. Opposition to Unions 1. It was common for employers to exchange lists of workers who were suspected of being members of a union a. These blacklists were used to prevent these workers from being hired 2. Strikes that became violent created an anti-union feeling D. Labor Unrest 1. Strikes occurred as workers fought for rights in the workplace 2. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 a. Workers for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad went on strike to protest a wage cut b. This became the first nationwide strike in U.S. history i. The strike spread across 11 states and 500,000 workers from other industries joined the railroad workers c. Eventually, President Hayes sent in troops to put down the strike 3. Haymarket Square Episode (1886) a. Workers were demonstrating for an 8-hour workday b. At a McCormick plant in Chicago, scabs were used to continue running the plant c. Conflict erupted and a bomb was detonated into the crowd d. This strike made organized labor look radical and violent and hurt the popularity of the Knights of Labor 4. Homestead Strike (1892) a. Andrew Carnegie owned a steel mill in Homestead, PA, near Pittsburgh b. The Amalgamated Association (AA), a union, formed at the steel mill and won a couple of early strikes c. The Homestead mill was run by Henry Clay Frick whose goal was to break the union d. When the union s contract was up in 1892, Frick refused to negotiate a new contract and locked workers out e. Frick hired the Pinkerton Detectives to provide security and break the strike When the Pinkertons tried to enter the mill, there was conflict i. The conflict lasted for 14 hours and left 16 people dead f. The strike lasted four more months until the union gave in and Frick succeeded in breaking the union 5. Pullman Strike (1894) a. During a depression in 1893 the Pullman Company laid off 3,000 of its 5,800 employees and also cut wages b. Workers looked to the American Railroad Union (led by Eugene V. Debs) for help i. The workers stopped handling any Pullman cars and this boycott held up transportation across the nation ii. A federal injunction was issued to stop the boycott/strike iii. Debs was arrested and later turned to socialism c. When the economy improved, and the Pullman Company hired back some of its workers, but failed to restore wages d. This caused a strike and a boycott of Pullman trains e. Eventually the government stepped in and ended the strike 10